The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden

Description from Amazon

“You must be our new neighbors!” Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter’s hand and smile back, but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I’ll do anything to keep it that way…

I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.

Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes. But her cold stare gives me chills…

The Lowells’ maid isn’t the only strange thing on our street. I’m sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.

Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?

I thought I’d left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?

*Apparently Goodreads thinks my post has spoiler alerts but I thought I'd kept it generic so read at your peril!* 

This is the second Freida McFadden book that I have read, and based on the two of them, no more for me. Apparently this is the third in a series and the others are better, but wow this one just had me scratching my head. You didn’t need to read the others to understand this as the whole backstory does get explained but there are events in this that seem to contradict the characters’ motivations in previous stories.

The book starts with Millie standing over a body and there is blood everywhere. Now go back some time before, and Millie, Enzo, and the kids have moved into this house that they seemed to get for a steal even though they can’t really afford it. Their neighbours, Suzette and Johnathan, seem super wealthy and since they want Enzo to help out with the garden and it’s money coming in, Enzo is happy to help. But Enzo seems a little too happy spending time there and Suzette is a tad handsy around him. Plus they have a super creepy maid who watches them as though they are thieves.

The book carries on really slowly, with their son Nico starting to act out to the point where Millie starts to think he is a psychopath (the praying mantis, really?), the lady across the street (who keeps her son leashed to a backpack) continually warning her about the neighbours and the fact that she is watching everyone, Ada, the daughter, crying constantly and then suddenly threatening bodily harm, Enzo keeping secrets about money and spending a LOT of time with Suzette, and Millie, well, basically doing nothing except watching all this happen and worrying about Enzo. And each thing that happens you think is going to lead to something but it kinda fizzles out.

So you get to just before the end and find the killer and the reasons behind it. Um, okay. Reasons for people to stay with others? Nope… call the cops, hello! It was like there was a seed of an idea, but in worrying about upsetting people, it wasn’t expanded on, so the whole premise behind the reason for the killing was stretched somewhat. And then the epilogue. Hmmm. After eventually understanding what Enzo and Millie do to help people (and while we are on that, seriously – Enzo keeping his past like that while telling all else? Again…hmmm) it was so odd that the person who needed help (and was being assisted but not to everyone’s knowledge) would not come forward sooner. Did it add anything to the story? Not really. It may have answered a question we could have guessed, but otherwise, no.

So, in a nutshell, that is me out. No more Freida. The book was slow, the characters dull and some really not necessary, the plotline through the story tenuous at best, and some dialogue and internal thoughts just not great. One example being Millie’s lipstick that wiped off but made no difference as it was the same shade as her lips. Words are precious – don’t waste them!